LYNN — The city of Lynn and Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development (LHAND) will develop a plan next month focusing on areas of the city most in need of improvements.
Funds the city receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) each year are contingent upon the city developing a Consolidated Plan for Housing, Economic and Community Development plan every five years.
“It’s a framework and a strategy for us for future investments in the city with the money we get from HUD,” said James Marsh, the city’s director of community development. “As a requirement of receiving the funding, every year we do an annual action plan and every five years we do a consolidated action plan.”
The purpose of the plan is to target what community development and housing investments will be made with grant funding the city receives from three major HUD programs each year: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Home Investment Partnerships (HOME), and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), formerly known as the Emergency Shelter Grant.
If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan, which covers the time period from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2025 and is expected to cost $50,000, would have already been finished, Marsh said, noting that the city got a waiver that allowed the extension.
With the process delayed, the city is now seeking proposals from professional firms and consultants, which will provide planning services, technical advice and assistance in connection with the plan’s preparation. The city plans to award a bid for the plan by Jan. 1, Marsh said.
“This plan, what we’re going to discuss is where do we turn our attention in the next five years,” said Marsh, explaining that a past plan focused on revitalization of the city’s urban core, the downtown, including Washington Street and Market Street, and developing the waterfront.
“Washington Street is one of the streets that has seen major investment both from the (Lynn) Housing Authority, my office and EDIC, and the waterfront speaks for itself with what’s happening there,” he said.
Marsh anticipates a continued focus on the waterfront, in terms of development and the creation of open space, and that the plan will shift the focus from the Lynn Common to Barry Park, and target improvements on lower Washington Street, the city’s core, Broad Street, Central Avenue, along with other dilapidated parks.
“That is all part of the process of putting this together, what’s our strategy for the next five years and where do we invest over the next five years with this HUD funding,” said Marsh.
For instance, for fiscal year 2021, the city expects to receive more than $3.62 million in funding from those three major HUD programs — $2.47 million in CDBG, $217,814 from ESG, and $935,847 from the HOME program, Marsh said.
Each year, the city receives about $2.3 million in CDBG funds, 70 to 75 percent of which must be earmarked for projects in low- to moderate-income level neighborhoods, Marsh said, explaining that the requirement doesn’t only apply to housing, but rather community development investments, such as improvements to public facilities, streets, playgrounds and street lights.
“We have to certify in the plan that at least 75 percent of the funds are being used for people of low- and moderate-income households,” said Marsh. “I cannot invest money in areas of the city that are a higher income, which typically is Ward 1 up above Wyoma Square. I can’t target block grant funding in those areas that have higher income levels.”
Each year, plan partner, the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development (LHAND), receives approximately $1 million in HOME funds, and about 20 percent, or $500,000 of the CDBG funds allocated to the city, according to Peggy Phelps, director of planning and development for LHAND.
In the last consolidated plan, Phelps said LHAND targeted the Oakville Grove and Orchard Grove neighborhood, a project that has consisted of building townhomes in that West Lynn neighborhood. She anticipates the new plan will focus on similar revitalization in a different neighborhood.
“I think that the biggest part of the new consolidated plan that we’re going to develop is probably going to focus again on targeting neighborhoods,” said Phelps. “We’ll just look at what neighborhood needs it the most and we haven’t done that yet.”
Components that LHAND includes in each consolidated plan include home ownership, neighborhood stabilization, loans and grants for homeownership rehabilitation, and efforts aimed at combating homelessness.
“We try to couple on top of something else that’s going on (in the city) to get the most bang for our buck, so when you back out of it, you really have a project that makes sense,” said Phelps, noting that a potential focus could build off of development in the downtown.
“We’ve been very mindful of how we spend the money, (which goes toward) good quality projects that help a lot of people. I think that the money is well spent and I don’t think a lot of communities can say that.”